Lately I have been making a lot of pooris. The temperature has dipped into the 40’s and 30’s and with the cold air, I feel hot fried bread is in order. Yesterday afternoon some of the kids’ friends came over so I fried up a batch of fresh pooris with some dough that was left over from the previous day’s parathas. While everyone was like, “No, I’m not hungry…I just want to play,” they totally succumbed to the waft of the hot pooris frying in the wok. I was mobbed by preschoolers when I brought the pooris to the table.

This morning the temp was in the low 30’s and the ground was frosty. Although we were running late, slowed down by the cold, I had to give my little ones a hot breakfast before sending them off to school. Still, we were behind schedule so I had to figure out something not that involved. I guess I could have done oatmeal, but I had a hunk of croissant dough that never adequately rose sitting in my fridge. I decided to fire up my wok.

For my daughter who wanted cheese filled chapatis, I pan fried two rolled out discs, sprinkled mozzarella on top of one and then sandwiched it between another of these puffy, yeasted and bubbly pancakes. She ate it like a sandwich. For my son who wants to eat everything he can with maple syrup, I deep fried the dough, making a soft and chewy yeasted puffed bread.

I knew it would be good but I didn’t realize how good until I tasted it. Somewhere between the funnel cake I used to get as a kid from the Rt. 18 Flea Market and French toast. Slightly sweetish in flavor, light and airy in texture. Serving the croissat bhatura hot definitely added to the yum factor.

Here is the recipe. It makes a lot of dough, which can be frozen or stored in the fridge for breakfast emergencies.

Combine dry ingredients. Add ghee or butter and then milk. Knead for at least 10 minutes, adding additional flour to form a soft, elastic dough. Let the dough rise an hour or so and then roll out like you would pooris. You can also wrap any unused dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze.